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I'm taking the dive. 8 cores are on the way

mspman

mspman

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 7, 2007
236
76
Minneapolis, MN
The heck with it I say!

I'm doing it. I'm getting 8 cores of Mac goodness:

Both Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and AirPort Extreme
Apple Wireless Keyboard and Apple wireless Mighty Mouse - U.S. English
Two 16x SuperDrives
Accessory kit
Two 3.0GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
1GB (2 x 512MB)
500GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
Mac OS X - U.S. English
ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB (2 x dual-link DVI)

I feel like I'm on a roller coaster. At the very top, you're like.. ohmygod ohmygod whydididothis??! But afterwards, you're like YEAH!! THAT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT!! :)

I'm going to grad school for Math, so I figure I can use those 8 cores to do some numerical solutions and the like. I bet Mathematica hums on that system. I'm really excited. :apple: :apple:

And on the back of my nano, I'm getting the following engraved. 2 BILLION BROWNIE POINTS to the person who can decrypt it and tell me what cipher I used. Geek away. :)

hcoeepokumnallbyor
yercwtpsooweiykdee
 
You might not like the wireless keyboard and mouse... i don't know if they have updated the keyboard in the past two years or not but my newspaper made the mistake of getting a set and the batteries run out FAST.

Other than that the system seems okay... and you have plenty of room for expansion.... I do agree with the poster above in getting more RAM for that beast... 8 Cores that have to share 1 Gig of memory :confused:

That ain't right.
 
Nice setup mate. I'm very jealous.

My dual 2.5 G5 is due for replacement in January, and I can hardly wait.
 
cool.. i just ordered the exact same setup last night, but only got the 2.66. Its just for home use, though i really had to think about the 8-core. It wil blow away my g4. I'm adding in another 8gbs of ram and 2nd 500gb HD from elsewhere.
 
Good choice!! I can't decide if I want the 8-core or the normal Quad. I know I don't need the 8-core, but hey... I only have so much budget though, and if I stick with the Quad-Core I can get 2 20" Apple displays. So its really a matter of me either opting for power that I won't use regularly, or 2 monitors, which I have been itching for for a while.
 
Now is the time to buy if you're buying I think.

Could never go wireless on keyboard and mouse myself though.
 
ob81 said:
Good choice!! I can't decide if I want the 8-core or the normal Quad. I know I don't need the 8-core, but hey... I only have so much budget though, and if I stick with the Quad-Core I can get 2 20" Apple displays. So its really a matter of me either opting for power that I won't use regularly, or 2 monitors, which I have been itching for for a while.
Click to expand...

The 8-Core is meant for MULTI-Tasking. Encoding in one program, rendering in another, meant to task all 8 processors.

If you get the Quad, it is still fast as hell, and you can afford more extra stuff like ram, hard drive space, displays, graphics cards.
 
Just got my 8 core from MacConnection last night. $$3800 no tax. Plus I got them to do overnight shipping for $20. Setting it up now. Boy its awesome. Also if you go to xlr8yourmac.com and click on transintl you can get the 4gb memory for $298. Thats what I did. Waiting for it to arrive now.
 
thats a pretty good deal, i found 4-1gb sticks on owc for 359.99 thats the cheapest i found, id like to do the 2gb sticks but then i would have to buy two sets.. i just picked up a MacPro 2.66 for 2150$ shipped Brand Spanking new
 
FF_productions said:
The 8-Core is meant for MULTI-Tasking. Encoding in one program, rendering in another, meant to task all 8 processors.
Click to expand...

I remember when my single processor PowerBook G4 was king of multi-tasking...:( I feel sad now. Lemme find a Prozac.:p

Really, people seem to have forgotten just how much power four cores gives. Two is plenty for 95% of the people I see; four is enough for the other 4%, and 1% of that group can never have enough.

Congrats on the purchase, mate. Enjoy it!
 
I really want to pull the trigger, it is tough knowing that there could be an update soon... I find it difficult to justify.
 
Soon, in what sense? The yorkdale chips are now q1 2008, not q3 07.. this is just my opinion, and why i pulled the trigger, but i dont see the intel price cut, (now pushed back to end of July) being passed onto consumers by apple, their too much of a niche market to have to look at what everyone else is doing. I'm thinkin Mac Pro update is October at the earliest, maybe not till Feb 08.
 
Digital Skunk said:
You might not like the wireless keyboard and mouse... i don't know if they have updated the keyboard in the past two years or not but my newspaper made the mistake of getting a set and the batteries run out FAST.
Click to expand...
I can't say anything about the mice but the keyboards last about 6 months. This is coming from an avid gamer too. This is just using normal alkaline batteries as well.
 
suneohair said:
I really want to pull the trigger, it is tough knowing that there could be an update soon... I find it difficult to justify.
Click to expand...

How do you think I feel? I'm waiting and waiting and nothing is happening. I have to sell my PowerBook G4 for money towards it. I don't want to end up selling my PowerBook and being stuck on an iMac G3 for a little while.

Please, Apple... update the Mac Pro!!! :(
 
Because now is not the time to by makes it the time to sell. I sold my old Mac Pro and made out like a bandit. Heck with the money I made I only had to come out of pocket a few hundred to get the 8 core.

Now is the time to sell. You can buy also but waiting between your sale and purchase increases your cash. But hey, who wants to wait till 08? Not me.

Take the DIVE!
 
spaz8 said:
Soon, in what sense? The yorkdale chips are now q1 2008, not q3 07.. this is just my opinion, and why i pulled the trigger, but i dont see the intel price cut, (now pushed back to end of July) being passed onto consumers by apple, their too much of a niche market to have to look at what everyone else is doing. I'm thinkin Mac Pro update is October at the earliest, maybe not till Feb 08.
Click to expand...

It is really less about new chips, and more about just a spec update. 3Ghz in the base model, 2GB, new 8xxx video etc. That is more my concern.

I am really thinking about doing it... If I buy though and they go all 8core... I won't be very happy. I know that much for sure.
 
suneohair said:
It is really less about new chips, and more about just a spec update. 3Ghz in the base model, 2GB, new 8xxx video etc. That is more my concern.

I am really thinking about doing it... If I buy though and they go all 8core... I won't be very happy. I know that much for sure.
Click to expand...
I'm holding out for better stock options as well. Octo-core across the board is entirely possible given the chips are barely more then their quad counterparts.
 
Eidorian said:
I'm holding out for better stock options as well. Octo-core across the board is entirely possible given the chips are barely more then their quad counterparts.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I was just about to do it... Now I don't know again. I will give it a couple weeks I think.
 
suneohair said:
Thank you. I was just about to do it... Now I don't know again. I will give it a couple weeks I think.
Click to expand...
I'm Mac less right now but I need to stay within a budget. No sense in buying a refurbished model either when the upgrade components will push the price to the new stock model. FB-DIMMs and Mac/Windows video cards are really expensive.
 
Eidorian said:
I'm Mac less right now but I need to stay within a budget. No sense in buying a refurbished model either when the upgrade components will push the price to the new stock model. FB-DIMMs and Mac/Windows video cards are really expensive.
Click to expand...

I am actually buying with ADC. I want to make it count though you know? The more I think about, I know I will be doing a lot of upgrading myself. If they release an 8 series card on the low end, I can probably buy a PC equivelent and do some flash magic and get it to work anyway.

I will be buying my own RAM, probably 4GBs in a few months. That will put me at 5GB with the current model, but I suspect I would get 6GB (if they bump it up to 2GB).

HDs will be added overtime. 500GB stock would be great of course.

3Ghz would be a nice addition too, and 8-core, mmmm. I really want to buy this thing, but my need for newness trumples that thought. Darn me and my "I have to know everything that is coming out soon" thoughts.
 
suneohair said:
I am actually buying with ADC. I want to make it count though you know? The more I think about, I know I will be doing a lot of upgrading myself. If they release an 8 series card on the low end, I can probably buy a PC equivelent and do some flash magic and get it to work anyway.

I will be buying my own RAM, probably 4GBs in a few months. That will put me at 5GB with the current model, but I suspect I would get 6GB (if they bump it up to 2GB).

HDs will be added overtime. 500GB stock would be great of course.

3Ghz would be a nice addition too, and 8-core, mmmm. I really want to buy this thing, but my need for newness trumples that thought. Darn me and my "I have to know everything that is coming out soon" thoughts.
Click to expand...
Flashing should come around eventually. Drive space and prices always come down in the future. Not in terrible need of a lot of RAM. I just want an upgradable Mac. If the refurbished prices really plummet, ~$1,599, I'd consider it.

Note: You have my interest in flashing an 8 Series for Mac. *adds to friend list*
 
I'll be getting 8core goodness soon, it'll be retiering my dual 1.8 G5. with adc cause it'll be free.
Only problem is the 1900 is getting old and the 7300 is worse than the card I got in the g5 right now. 7800gs.
 
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